Selling a path to american citizenship for wealthy chinese. The real scandal is its perfectly legal. Meanwhile once the richest country in latin america, venezuela is on the brink of collapse or civil war. How did this happen . Well tell you. But first heres my take. As regular viewers know, i have tried to evaluate Donald Trumps presidency fairly. I have praised him when he has appointed competent people to high office and he has and expressed support for his policies when they seem serious and sensible, even though this has drawn criticism from some quarters. But there has always been another aspect to this presidency lurking beneath the surface, sometimes erupting into full view as it did this week. Donald trump in much of his rhetoric and many of his actions poses a danger to american democracy. What makes the american system of government distinctive is not how democratic it is but rather the opposite. American democracy has a series of checks intended to prevent the accumulation and abuse of power by any one person or group. But there is one gaping hole in the system. The president. During his famous interviews with david frost in 1977, Richard Nixon made a comment regarding watergate thats been quoted ever since. When the president does it, that means it is not illegal. In fact, nixon was a smart lawyer and a close student of the american constitution. He was basically right. The president , in effect, sits above the law. The Justice Department, after all, works for him. As trump told the New York Times regarding separating himself from his business empire, the law is totally on my side. Meaning the president cant have a conflict of interest. Most lawyers say trump is right. The rules dont really apply to the president. There is just one real check on the president impeachment. It is political, not legal. Since trumps own Party Controls both chambers of congress there has been little resistance to him there. So far it appears the Republican Party is losing any resemblance to a traditional western political party. Instead simply turning into something commonly found in the developing world a platform to support the ego, appetites, and interests of one man and his family. There are other less potent checks on the power of the president. Some are structural. Others simply a matter of morality or precedent. Trump has sought to destroy almost every one of these both before the election and now in the white house. This week he dismissed fbi director james comey, reportedly over his investigation of russian collusion in the american election. If true, the firing would be a shattering blow. The nonpartisan agencies of the executive branch are jewels of the modern american system. They were not always impartial and they are certainly not perfect. But in recent decades they have acquired a well deserved reputation. When i traveled from Eastern Europe to china to latin america, democratic reformists tell me that they look to these agencies as models when trying to strengthen the rule of law in their own countries. There are only two forces left that can place some constraints on donald trump, the courts and the media. He has relentlessly attacked both. Every time a court ruled against one of his executive orders, the president ridiculed the decision or demeaned judges involved. That leaves the media. Trump has gone at home, at us, like no president before, smearing news organizations, attacking individual journalists and threatening to strip Legal Protections guaranteed to a free press. We will survive, but we must recognize the stakes. The media must cover the administrations policies fairly. But it also must never let the public forget that many of the attitudes and actions of this president are gross violations of the customs and practices of the modern american system, that they are aberrations and they cannot become the new norms. That way, after trump, the country will not start the next presidency with tattered standards and sunken expectations. Our task is, quite simply, to keep alive the spirit of american democracy. For more, go to cnn. Com fareed and read my Washington Post column this week. Lets get started. Lets get right to it with todays terrific panel joining us from d. C. Are Michael Hayden who was the director of both the nsa and the cia. Hes now principal at the chertoff group. James wolsey, past director of the cia was an adviser to the Trump Campaign and the transition team. He quit before the inauguration. Here with me in new york christina rodriguez, proffessor at yale in constitutional law. And a president ial historian, pa formerly of the nixon library. You said the events reminded you of nicaragua or that american was turning into nicaragua. What did you mean . I meant that the president was going beyond normal restraints that you referred to. He was within his technical Legal Authority to fire jim comey. The motivation was questionable. I dont mean the motivation was in question. We know why he did it. It was the russian investigation. But that motivation is very questionable. He did it in the most thuggish mnner. He used the power of his office to publically humiliate jim comey, a public servant. I think a lot of people in the american government, fareed, Senior Leadership in what i call the permanent government is going to school on that sequence of events. Mike, let me ask you about that. You were the head of two agencies that have often been nonpartisan, particularly the nsa. You were not yourself a political appointee to that. Right. And so in many ways you are like jim comey, one of these guys who came up through the career bureaucracy. What i was even more troubled by was the way trump seems to have invited comey to dinner and essentially had a conversation in which he was looking for a pledge of personal loyalty in return for some kind of quid pro quo. Looking for assurances that he was personally not being investigated. Did that strike you as very unusual . Its incredibly unusual, fareed. First of all, it trans gress the political protocols you referred to in the opening. Its not good for the president. The head of fbi, cia, they are in those jobs not to be loyal to the president but to serve him, to tell him the truth. When the president requires this loyalty oath it makes it harder for them to go into the oval and tell him what we in the Intelligence Community refer to as the unpleasant fact. Its always hard to go in there and tell a president something that cuts across his narrative, his politics, or his policy. Its always a bit of a heavy lift. President trump, because of the events of this past week has made that incredibly more difficult. Its not that dan coates or mike pompeio wont go in and tell him the truth. They will. But even in normal circumstances the body of evidence you would require to go in there to tell the president something incredibly unpleasant was always pretty high. The stack needed to be like this. Now im afraid we have made the requirement for that stack to be like that and the bottom line for that is the president isnt going to get the kind of warning that he needs to be successful and develop wise policy. This has incredible costs in many dimensions. Jim woolsey, do you think this is as consequential as Michael Hayden is describing it . Its a very important series of events. I do think that the fbi had gotten off into given press conferences with some frequency. He headed not the federal bureau of Public Information but the federal bureau of investigation. Im not used to seeing in my cia job or otherwise seeing fbi directors giving lots of press conferences. This is a strange situation. He felt it was necessary for him to do that given the circumstances he was in each time. I think it was a slippery slope. As far as loyalty is concerned, senior government officials, our loyalty ought to be to the constitution. We are not in medieval england. People arent trying to stage coups and so forth or nicaragua. So i think a perfectly appropriate answer to the question, are you loyal to me, is certainly as long as you are within the operating room that you are given by the constitution, mr. President. But i find this whole thing, this whole week to be really troubling for sort of incoat reasons and ways. I think it is going to be very hard to find an fbi director willing to operate under the circumstances we have seen this week. Christina, we know what the president did was legal. Jeff sessions essentially as a condition of accepting the attorney general told congress he would recuse himself of anything related to russia. Clearly the comey firing is related to russia. Is he in violation of the law . I think if he were to have made his judgment about recommending the firing of comey motivated by wanting to obstruct the russia investigation in clear violation of recusal would be an ethics violation. The remedy is removal of office which means a president willing to fire him or a congress willing to impeach him. Neither seems to be the case. What exactly did Jeff Sessions know about the rationale for firing jim comey. It is imperative we understand to know whether he behaved ethically or not. What does this tell us about the way the president operates . One thing im struck by is there is a kind of impulsiveness, rage. It does remind one of nixon on the tapes. Well, you know well find out what actions the president has actually engaged in. Whats clear from social media in a way that would not have been possible in 1973 is that trump has a nixonian temperament. He rages. Hells like a victim. He has a sense of enemies about him. Staff recognize that in him. It is interesting when you look at the haldeman diaries. Early on nixon wanted to wiretap every sub cabinet official linked to the National Security official every single one. Haldeman didnt do it. In the diary he wrote there are times when i am just going to have to protect the president from himself. Im just not going to do what he says. When you look at the pattern of nixons rhetoric on the tapes and his actions you see his staff perhaps only implemented a quarter of the very terrible things he ordered. Thats because he had a strong staff. A quarter was too much. The whole thing ends badly. Whats clear is bob haldeman, his chief of staff, was strong. You look at the trump administration. You ask yourself, are there any internal checks and balances there . Is Reince PriebusStrong Enough to say to mr. Trump, President Trump, no, sir, that would be terrible. Last week one got the sense that there arent checks. Bob haldeman would have said, sir, do not fire comey this way. Fascinating. When we come back, well dig into the heart of this which is the investigation into russias interference in the 2016 elections. What do we know . When we come back. You dont let anything keep you sidelined. Thats why you drink ensure. With 9 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. For the strength and energy to get back to doing. What you love. Ensure. Always be you. Itbut one i think with quesa simple answer. We have this need to peek over our neighbors fence. And once we do, we see wonder waiting. Every step you take, narrows the influence of narrow minds. Bridges continents and brings this world one step closer. So, the question you asked me. What is the key . Its you. Everything in one place, so you can travel the world better. We believe in food thats anaturally beautiful, fresh and nutritious. So there are no artificial colors, no artificial flavors, no artificial preservatives in any of the food we sell. We believe in real food. Whole foods market. Briathe customer app willw if be live monday. Can we at least analyze customer traffic . Can we push the offer online . Brian, i just had a quick question. Brian . Brian. Legacy technology can handcuff any company. But yes is here. Youre saying the new app will go live monday . yeah. With help from hpe, we can finally work the way we want to. With the right mix of hybrid it, everything computes. Hidden in every swing, every chip, and every putt, is data that can make the difference between winning and losing. The microsoft cloud helps the pga tour turn countless points of data into insights that transform their business and will enhance the game for players and fans. The microsoft cloud turns information into insight. We are back with Michael Hayden, james woolsey, Cristina Rodriguez and tim naftali. Michael, looking at the way in which this russia investigation has unfolded the president has fired sally yates, james comey. There was the attempt to get devon nunes to essentially tilt the investigation in its direction. What do you think of all that . Is that just smoke or do you think theres fire . Fareed, i put myself in the position of a foreign intelligence chief when thinking about that recently. My answer would be along the lines you just suggested. Mr. Prime minister in response to your question it appears as if the administration is doing everything it can to either slow or discredit the various investigations with regard to russian interference in the american president ial election. So i think thats a Fair Assessment as to whats going on here. Fareed, i really dislike special structures, special prosecutors, independent efforts and so on that go too long, too deep, too broad. They cost too much. You lose control, they lose purpose. I have to tell you. After the events of the past week, i really have an open mind now as to whether or not we need some sort of extraordinary structure. Not just so we can get to the question of was there or was there not a crime but so the American People understand the totality of what happened here. Jim woolsey, what do you think . When you were at the cia you were watching the russians. You think there is something here . I think there is a lot here. The russians are never not interfering with other countries, Political Parties and elections. They have interfered a lot with the social democrats in germany, for example. They call it framing with the same kind of connotation it has in american english. They do their very best to under mine groups and individuals that they think are a threat to them or are doing things they dont want to see done. They do what they can to build up the reputation, history, past of individuals that they want to support. Ian mahal chapa is the most senior defector we got from the eastern block in the cold war. He says there are more people involved in this kind of activity framing, disinformation, and so forth in the russian government than are involved in the armed forces. They are never not doing what they are being charged with. Tim, does it seem to you on the other side that the Trump Campaign officials might have been involved . Well, i will put it this way. Russians always seek access to newly elected president s. Bobby kennedy was visited by a russian. We know hes kgb because i saw the kgb record. Bobby kennedy handled this man well. The russians wanted a summit with the newly elected john f. Kennedy. He said please wait for the inauguration. Well talk about it later. I dont think the people around trump had the sophistication. I think the russians put pressure on them and took advantage of them. We saw how they played us for fools by tweeting pictures of the meeting with President Trump. I dont know whether the trump inner circles were dunces or devils. If they understood they were colluding or were so excited a foreign important power that the president or president to be liked that they dealt with the russians. Im waiting to see the extent to which the Trump Campaign understood that the russians were wanting to play them. There is the original puzzle in this which was why did donald trump fall in love with the russians . Can we appoint, can congress appoint a special prosecutor, an independent counsel . It would have to come from the attorney general or in this case the Deputy Attorney general because Jeff Sessions is recused or another person in the department of justice. It is an executive power and has to be supervised by the executive branch. Of Course Congress can conduct its own investigations. In many ways it would be further reaching than the investigation of a special counsel with a particular remit. In addition to that congress could do Something Like revive the independent counsel statute that lapsed in 1999 which created structures to ensure independence in appointing independent counsel which also included authority of congress to request a special counsel. That statute is highly controversial and lapsed for a reason. Some of the reasons michael gave in his commentary. I doubt thats going to transpire. Its important to understand that we can have investigations on two tracks here if there is a department of justice investigation through an independent special counsel appointed by the Deputy Attorney general and congressional investigations. We come back to the problem which is that either trump is effectively investigating himself through the Justice Department or you are relying on congress which is currently controlled in both the house and senate by the Republican Party to investigate. Thats the problem. It is imperative for democrats to continue to press the issue and for the media to continue to press the issue. It is possible that public pressure could result in the appointment of some kind of Investigative Authority that would hamstring the president or tie the president s hands. It requires a great deal of pressure. The institutions are in the hands of the president s party. 20 seconds, tim. Do you think the public pressure had something to do with the way the watergate hearings went . Though of course that was a Democratic House and senate. I think it was that Alexander Butterfield announced to the world there was a taping seasonsystem. Once you had tapes you could find out the truth. Perhaps we should hope trump has tapes. In fact, before butterfield, trump had enough votes to survive impeachment. No question without the tapes nixon, i think, would have finished his second term. On that note, we are going to come back and talk about Jared Kushners sister, the Kushner Companys selling american citizenships, the scandal thats perfectly legal. Z282uz zwtz y282uy ywty i count on my dell small for tech advice. With one phone call, i get products that suit my needs and i get back to business. I mwell, what are youe to take care odoing tomorrow 10am . Staff meeting. Noon . Eating. 3 45 . Uh, compliance training. 6 30 . Sams baseball practice. 8 30 . Tai chi. Yeah, so sounds relaxing. Alright, 9 53 . I usually make their lunches then, and i have a little vegan so wow, you are busy. Wouldnt it be great if you had investments that worked as hard as you do . Yeah. Introducing essential portfolios. The automated investing solution that lets you focus on your life. At whole foods market, we believe in food thats naturally beautiful and fresh. Delicious and powerful, and full of nutrients. So there are no artificial colors. No artificial flavors. No artificial preservatives. And no artificial sweeteners. In any of the food we sell. We believe that the food we eat connects us to the Natural World and to each other. We believe in real food™. Whole foods market. Now for our what in the world segment. For sale. American citizenship. That was part of the sales pitch last weekend from the sister of jared kushner, president ial Senior Adviser and soninlaw of donald trump. The message at that now infamous presentation at the ritz carlton in beijing was clear. In return for a half Million Dollar investment in a yet to be built Kushner Company luxury complex in new jersey, chinese investors would get a fast track to u. S. Citizenship. Kushners sister apologized for dropping her brothers name during her presentation but she did not apologize for dangling the path to u. S. Citizenship because that part is actually perfectly legal. Its part of an almost 30yearold visa program called eb5. If after two years an eb5 visaholding foreign investor can prove he or she put 500,000 into a rural area or an area of high unemployment and created ten american jobs, he or she is issued a green card. That means permanent residency status which after five years turns into citizenship pretty easily. If you dont want to make your investment in an area that particularly needs jobs, well, it will cost you a Million Dollars. The u. S. Is not alone in selling residency according to separate research from the imf and Allison Christians at mcgill university. Do you want the french equivalent of a green card . 10 million and a twomonth wait. The swiss require an annual donation of about 150,000 and it will take ten or more years to become a citizen. In st. Kits you need only invest 400,000 in real estate to get a passport in as little as three months and you dont even have to live there. If you are looking for a bargain, paraguay might be for you. Getting permanent residency status sets you back just 5,200. In three years you can become a citizen. Often wealthy individuals become citizens of these countries to facilitate visafree travel. In some cases there are potential tax benefits and countries like selling citizenship and residency because it is an easy way to generate income. For example, the sale of citizenship provided st. Kitz and nevis with 25 of its gdp in 2013. Here in the United States between 2012 and 2013 about 11,000 eb5 recipients contributed 5. 8 billion for domestic projects. Thats real money but comes to a tiny 0. 02 of u. S. Gdp for those years. The program has been accused of being susceptible to fraud and abuse with little oversight. The gao expressed concerns and a recent article in vox points to scandals including one involving the former deputy secretary of Homeland Security who helped well connected people such as anthony rodham, brother of Hillary Rodham clinton secure financing for certain projects. In addition a recent editorial in the Washington Post charges that the actual number of jobs aattributable to the eb5 program is low and Big City Developers benefit most from the program. In effect, Developers Like the Kushner Company can get investments offering very low rates of return because the investors are getting something they care more about u. S. Citizenship. The government is, in effect, financing private real estate developers. In rare bipartisan unity, both democrat Dianne Feinstein and republican Charles Grassley introduced legislation in the senate to terminate the eb5 program. However, President Trump signed a bill to extend the program through the end of september. Now, im all in favor of attracting Foreign Investment and generating jobs in the u. S. But better to do it through wise tax and regulatory policy that makes the country friendly for business rather than through the sale of something that should be more precious the right to be an american citizen. Next on gps in the midst of chaos and rioting, a moment of magic. Whats going on in venezuela . And why . A lone violinist stands amidst teargas canisters and molotov cocktails in venezuela. Violent unrest rocked the country for weeks as protesters call for the release of Political Prisoners and a solution to a massive food and medical shortage. Today more than a quarter of venezuelas people are out of work. More than 80 now live in poverty. All this in a country with some of the Largest Oil Reserves in the world. How did this happen . We have with us shannon oneal, a senior fellow for latin american studies at the council on Foreign Relations and venezuelas trade minister, now a distinguished fellow at the Carnegie Endowment and the author of the end of power. Welcome, both. Shannon, how did we get to this point . Why does it seem like the country is really on the verge of collapse . Well, we have seen over the last 18, almost 20 years the role from chavez. When he passed away maduro stepped in. Chavez left maduro four legacies. He left a legacy of incredible corruption, so there are estimates of 60 billion being stolen from the government taken abroad or elsewhere. He left high insecurity. Rising homicide rates, thefts, burglaries, all of that. Its a dangerous place. He left very weak institutions and even a parallel state. So you have pots of money outside of control of the legislature and militias loyal to the chavezista party. He left a party dpependent on ol and indebted. When oil prices were high he spent all the money and racked up inwrebl debt around the world. Thats what maduro is dealing with. The other peculiar thing is the influence that cuba has had on venezuela. Explain that. Here you have one of the last place cuba seems to have influence in the world is in venezuela. Well, it all started with a very strong human relationship between chavez and fidel castro. They became close. Castro persuaded chavez he needed his support, his advice, especially in terms of his own personal security and ensuring how to manage the military and how to use selective repression to stop the opposition from contain the opposition from becoming too strong. Also policies. He recommended policies that chavez whole heartedly adopted. Thats the result thats now here. Fidel castro not only crippled the cuban economy but managed to cripple the venezuelan economy through chavez first and now through maduro. Why did these policies why were they still popular . These are policies pretty discredited in the rest of latin america which has rejected this kind of status populism. Yeah. Ideological necrophilia. Thats passionate love for cadavers that some human beings have. It is a perversion. It happens in politics in which politicians around the world, we have seen them embrace ideas that have been tried and tested elsewhere before or even tested in their own countries. They always end in tears. But they have this appeal because they offer shortcuts, the promise, a lot of very, very good things that people believe them. They end up in very bad shape as a nation. Thats exactly what happened in venezuela. Chavez embraced all kinds of very bad ideas that the country had tried before. And the result has always been the same. Poverty, inequality, corruption. Shannon, what is the prognosis Going Forward . Can there be a dialogue between the opposition and the government that solves this . Or is venezuela really becoming the next zimbabwe . Thats the real question. There is a dialogue. There was a dialogue which pope francis was pushing which failed over the holidays in december. There is a push again to begin a dialogue. Its very hard to imagine how this works. There are members of the maduro government who not only have put in policy as moisis said but many have been involved in intense corruption. There is evidence from the department of justice of the United States involved in narco trafficking and other activities. This is a zero sum game if there is a change of government, a transition they could end up in if not a venezuelan jail a u. S. Jail. The other option is in zimbabwe where we see this regem years from now still there. The other is a collapse that could come because of economic default. That could become because of chaos in the streets. That could come if the military is called to repress protests and decides not to do that. Thats very opaque whether that occurs. Final thought. Whats your prognosis . What happens . Before it gets better it will get much worse. It is a very sad situation that shouldnt have been this way. But sadly thats what we have now. Fascinating, depressing conversation. Thank you both. Up next, something to cheer you up. Mothers day weekend in the United States and scores of other nations. A timely reminder about the first mother. All about eve when we come back. Listen up, heart disease. you too, unnecessary er visits. And hey, unmanaged depression, dont get too comfortable. Were talking to you, cost inefficiencies and data without insights. And fragmented care stop getting in the way of patient recovery and pay attention. Every single one of you is on our list. For those who wont rest until the world is healthier, neither will we. Optum. How well gets done. You didnt know we had over 26,000 local activities listed on our app. Or that you could book them right from your phone. A few weeks ago, you still didnt know if you were gonna go. Now the only thing you dont know, is why it took you so long to come here. Expedia. Everything in one place, so you can travel the world better. Albreakthrough withyou back. Nondrowsy allegra® for fast 5in1 multisymptom relief. Breakthrough allergies with allegra®. Eve. According to the bible she was the first woman, formed in one version of the story from adams rib. She went on to become the first mother. So i thought it was fitting on this mothers day in much of the world to bring on the author of the first love story adam, eve and us. Welcome back to the show. Nice to be with you. This is about the love story but in the course of the love story it begets the first child. Yes, exactly. Is her role as the first mother significant . In some ways it is the main goal of the story. The First Commandment is not the ten commandments. Thats in the book of exodus. It is in genesis where god says be fruitful and multiple. This is a story of genesis, generations. In order for the story to succeed we need this relationship to succeed. Thats in some ways one of the great discoveries of the journey i have been on. In some ways just to pull the lens back for a second, so i spent almost 20 years traveling the middle east trying to make the stories of the past relevant to today. This really began around my kitchen table. I have a working wife, identical twin daughters, as you know. We are struggling like everybody else in our family to talk about the way men and women relate to each other. We were in the Sistine Chapel and my kids were looking up at the image of adam and god. One of my daughters said where am i in that image . This story has been at the heart of every conversation for 3,000 years. What if i go on the journey through their lives across time and space and try to figure out what they can tell us today. Is eve a good mother . One of her kids kills the other. One of the things you know is you cant blame the mothers for the sins of their children. As we all know who are parents ourselves. My wife who is a working mother, an active mom herself loves what happens next in that story. You have cain having killed abel. The story says there is a separation. What do adam and eve do . They get together and forgive each other. My wife says you have to bring in hamilton. She talks about this moment where eli za and alexander are estranged. They lose a child. They come back together, go to the garden, take walks. And the last song, the best song in the musical, the company sings forgiveness, can you imagine. Forgiveness can you imagine what you see is love is not a choice you make once. It is a choice you make over and over again. It is the resilience, willingness to come back in the face of pain, sin, disappointment thats the great legacy of the story. You have traveled all over the world. You must have noticed, as i have, that Something Like mothers day which was a peculiar practice of really america and the hallmarkinspired holiday. Then spread. Now you can go to india. They are celebrating mothers day. In china they are celebrating mothers day. Not everywhere, of course. Do you think it is because its good marketing or does out speak to something . All of the marketing in the world cant work if it doesnt resonate. My wife doesnt care about her birthday or valentines day. This day matters. What we see now as women enter the world and take leadership positions and everything from Corporate America to government to academia. But this is incredibly important to mothers. The act of pausing and celebrating. What we see here in the first mother, i think. She has this powerful lesson to tell us about why we still need that. We still need mothers to say values are important. We still need mothers to say family is important. We still need mothers to be positive role models for our children but to say in some ways this model of trying to have it all. Thats still there. I think in some ways what im saying with this book is to rediscover in eve this positive message. Tell her for me happy mothers day. Happy mothers day to everyone. Happy mothers day to everyone. Next on gps bedtime stories for the youngsters in your life courtesy of the chinese government. You have to see these videos to believe them. Re spots. Bare spots that are hard to fix using seed alone. But scotts ez seed changes everything. Its an allinone solution. Our finest grass seed plus quickstart fertilizer and natural super absorbent mulch grow grass anywhere. The very first time, guaranteed. Bare spots be gone. This is a scotts yard. Sfx engine revving silence trubiotics can to help you feel lighter, more energetic, by naturally supporting your digestive and immune health. Trubiotics, a daily probiotic that helps restore the balance of good bacteria. Trubiotics, from one a day. Sometimes you capture the moment, and sometimes it captures you. Experience moe as a member. The marriott portfolo has 30 brands in over 110 countries, so no matter where you go, you are here. I realize that ah, that 100k is notwell, a 103fortune. Yeah, 103. Well, let me ask you guys. How long did it take you two to save that . A long time. Then its a fortune. Well, im sure you talk to people all the time who think 100k is just pocket change. Right now were just talking to you. I told you we had a fortune. Yes, you did. Getting closer to your investment goals starts with a conversation. Schedule a complimentary goal Planning Session today. Rays always been different. Last year, he said he was going to dig a hole to china. At t is working with farmers to improve irrigation techniques. Remote moisture sensors use a Reliable Network to tell them when and where to water. So that farmers like ray can compete in big ways. China. Oh. He got there. Thats the power of and. You know win control . Be this guy. Check it out selfappendectomy oh, thats really attached. Thats why i rent from national. Where i get the control to choose any car in the aisle i want, not some car they choose for me. Which makes me one smooth operator. Ah still a little tender. vo go national. Go like a pro. Some build walls to keep people out. But these are walls that welcome you in. Within these walls, californias educators create safe places for every student to learn and grow. Where teachers open minds to history. Unleash creativity. And show our kids the future. Some build walls to divide us. But the California Teachers Association knows these are walls that bring us together. Because quality Public Schools build a better california for all of us. 50,000 people died in syrias civil war in 2016 according to a new report released by the International Institute for strategic studies this week. It brings me to my question where was the second most lethal conflict in 2016 . Afghanistan, iraq, yemen, or mexico . Stay tuned and well tell you the correct answer. This weeks book of the week is harold evans do i make myself clear, why writing well matters. He was voted the greatest newspaper editor in history having headed the london times, new york daily news, u. S. News, the atlantic and random house. Now he has distilled a lifes worth of lessons, rules and anecdotes into a spirited punchy book that is sparkingly well written. Read the book and you will write and think more clearly. Now for the last look. Everybody knows childrens stories like the tortoise and the hare, green eggs and ham or charlie and the chocolate factory. Are you familiar with the belt and road . Probably not. Its new, part of a series of english language videos from china daily, a staterun news website. The New York Times wrote about the effort this week. These videos ostensibly for children describe chinas great infrastructure and diplomatic push. Its socalled one belt, one road initiative. Thats the plan to connect china with the rest of the world with a 21st century version of the ancient silk road. The videos are called belt and roadbedtime stories. Once upon a time several routes led from china through central asia to europe. A father explains about chinas infrastructure developments. New things like highways, airports, railways and pipelines, internet cables. Oh, my. China daily released a musical episode about the one belt one road policy. The videos explain globalization in child friendly terms. It is chinas idea. But it belongs to the world. Maybe the videos arent a bad idea. After all, bedtime stories about spending and infrastructure initiatives may just put your kids right to sleep. The correct answer to my gps challenge question is, d, 23,000 people were killed in violence in mexico in 2016 according to the iiss most recent Armed Conflict survey which looks at active conflicts around the world. Deaths from violence in that country jumped by nearly 23 between 2015 and 2016. And mexicos drug war doesnt appear to be slowing down. In fact, the report notes the first two months of the year were the most violent january and february on record. The wars in iraq and afghanistan claimed 17,000 and 16,000 lives respectively while violence in yemen resulted in 7,000 deaths last year. The good news is the number of conflict fatalities around the world dropped for a second year in a row with 10,000 fewer deaths in 2016 than the preceding year. Thanks for being part of my program this week. I will see you next week. Hey, happy mothers day and welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. Im Brian Stelter and this is a look at reliable sources. A look at how the media works and how the news gets made. Five days since the firing of james comey. This is the lowpoint in Donald Trumps young presidency. It also feels to some in the media like a tipping point. We have Carl Bernstein standing by with perspective you need to here